of fire; his trunk was lifted up, as you sometimes see the deadly
forest snake before it strikes his victim; his head was stretched out,
as the head of a giraffe when chased by a beast of prey, and the two
long, mighty, gleaming teeth seemed awful just then. His eyes caught a
glance of mine as I turned them towards him, and that instant he uttered
another snort of rage, which was as fearful as the war-horn of the
Watuta. But it gave me greater speed; if I ran before, I now flew; yet
closer and closer the monster came. I suppose he was about fifteen feet
from me when the tricks of the elephant hunters of Urori came to my
mind. I had noticed that though the big elephant was the foremost, he
was also the outermost on my right--the other elephants were to my left,
and they seemed to be following the lord of the herd rather than any
particular object. In an instant after observing this, I shot out
straight to the right from the direction I was first going as hard as my
feet and legs would take me. The elephants passed on, the rushing sound
of their feet going through the grass was like unto the wild pepo of
Ugogo, accompanied by thunder, when it comes sweeping over the plain,
with a moan and a rush, whirling and tossing bushes, and even small
trees about sometimes, and darkening the air with what it tears from the
earth.

"I had got fifty yards away before the elephants could turn about. Only
an instant, however, they stopped. They caught sight of me again, and
with loud, furious snorting again they charged in a mass. I am a pretty
swift runner as you all know, but the best of us seem to crawl compared
to the speed of an elephant for the first few hundred yards. The
elephants, especially one or two of the foremost, were gaining on me
rapidly; the stubborn grass whipped my legs severely as I ran, and was a
sore distress to me, but the thick hide of my pursuers was proof against
it. A little distance off before me, and to the left, was a clump of
brushwood. I thought if I could gain it, I would be comparatively safe,
as I could find somewhere to hide. In a few moments I reached it, and
looking sharply about, I discovered, a little distance off, half hidden
by grass and brush, a hole in the ground, which I knew to be that of the
wild boar. I thought it would be a capital place to hide, provided the
boar was out of his hole, and in a second I was on my face crawling
backwards into it. I had barely crawled in when